A Journey Through Life (Short Story)

Life is a journey. A journey that begins from the day you are born and ends on the day you leave this Earth. As a child, you are in the backseat of the car. The driver of the car is the person who is raising you, whether it’s your mother, father, and/or grandparents. They are driving to their destination, and as a child you are looking out the window and noticing things on their journey while asking questions. They are answering your questions and teaching you about the things on their journey. You begin taking mental notes so you can apply it to your trip once you get old enough to drive.

When you become a teenager and apply for your learners permit, you begin your journey on the road. However, that same adult is in the passenger seat guiding you and telling you where to go and how to get there. You sometimes get annoyed and say things such as, “I’m not a baby, I know how to get there.” No matter how many times you tell them this, they are still guiding you on how to get there.

You then enter early adulthood and now you have your drivers license. You hop into your car and tell yourself, I’m going on a trip! On your trip, you invite a few friends and begin speeding down the highway. While driving on the highway, you and your friends are showing each other your favorite spots. Your friends are telling you what they like about each spot and begin suggesting that you all try each others favorite spots. You exit the highway and begin stopping at parties, clubs, and bars. You and your friends are enjoying yourselves living the life of an early 20something. As time progresses, your interests are now theirs and vice versa. This routine continues on for a few more years. Suddenly, the journey becomes redundant and you decide to go on your own journey without a GPS or map.

On the start of your journey, you begin driving down Relationship Boulevard. This road seems interesting to you. You see a lot of fancy buildings that you’ve never seen before. You begin taking pictures at stop lights to remember this area. You then approach a road block. You notice a sign saying detour with an arrow pointing to the right. Instead, you go left and make the first two rights in hopes to get back on Relationship Boulevard. However, you run into another road block saying detour. You then give up and take the detour. While driving down this road, you approach a street called “Career Drive.”

As you cruise down career drive, the road begins to get a bit bumpy. It has many potholes but you keep driving in hopes that the road becomes smooth. As you are driving you see a big sign saying, “Welcome to the city of doubt, fear, stress, anxiety, and identity issues.” You continue driving around in this unknown city and you approach a dead end. You become nervous and frustrated because you don’t know what to do. You get out of your car and start walking around. As you are walking you see people drinking alcohol, crying, doing drugs, and attempting suicide. You begin asking people for help since you are lost, but no one can help you. It turns out that they all somehow got lost in this city as well, and don’t know where to go.

You continue to walk around and you notice a man on his knees. It looks like he is praying. You tap him on the shoulder and he looks up. You say, “Sorry to disturb you, but I’m lost. How do I get out of here?” He responds back saying, “I’m lost as well. All of the roads are blocked off or damaged. The only road I know that isn’t destroyed is the one over there.” He points over his shoulder. You look behind him and see a sign that says Avenue of Faith. He then continues saying, “This road is unfamiliar to me, however the road is smooth and there are no bumps or potholes. Come see for yourself”. You two begin walking over to the road. As you are looking down the road, you admire the fact that the road is smooth and has no road blocks. You look at the man and tell him, “I’m going to travel down this road and see where it takes me.” He says, “Just be careful and hope that you make it to your destination. I’ll stay here”.

You quickly run back to your car, crank up, and head for Avenue of Faith. Once you begin driving down Avenue of Faith everything is becoming to look familiar to you. All the things you ran into on your journey led you to this road. You didn’t understand why or how you ended up where you are but you are happy that it happened. Now you are able to return back home at peace, where you belong.